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What took Red Dead Redemption 2 so long? It probably has something to do with its enormous scale. The game is one of the biggest if not the biggest open world Rockstar Games has ever created. The depth it offers is stunning and a project like this takes time. It this case, developing Red Dead Redemption 2 took eight years to develop.

All Rockstar Studios around the world have worked as a single team to develop this game. It is a massive project, mainly due to how its open world works. It is a living world that runs on a schedule, separate from the player. This was always the idea to create an independent open world where the player just plays a role, the universe doesn’t revolve around him. According to Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North:

The real world runs on a schedule is the idea. If you’re going to have a gang that exists, they need jobs. Everyone has a routine they go through every day. […] Once we decided it was going to be about living in a gang, working in a gang – they’re going to live in camps, and these camps are going to move around as this group of people gets pushed through the world. Then they need to be believable. How are you going to make the camp believable? It can’t just be random schedules or points in the area the people go to.

They could have created an open world like this in the past but the technology tied their hands. However, with the Xbox One and PS4 offering just enough power, devs were able to work their way to a living, breathing world in Red Dead Redemption 2.

There are many complex systems integrated within the new Red Dead Redemption. For example, hunting isn’t as simple as you may have seen in other games. It is not only a source of food to the gang but a clean kill is valuable in the marketplace. Using certain types of weapons to hunt are the only way to make sure the animal stays intact. Damaged meat won’t sell as well.